Rams Agree Deal For Goalkeeper

Derby County are set to sign goalkeeper Jonathan Mitchell on a free transfer.

The 19-year-old shot-stopper put pen-to-paper on a one-year deal with the Rams earlier today, with his contract at Premier League side Newcastle United set to expire on June 30.

Mitchell was at the Rams’ Training Centre this afternoon to complete a medical and will join his new team-mates for pre-season training when they report back at the end of this month.

With Adam Legzdins’ impending departure from the Club confirmed last week, the Rams have moved to sign Mitchell to bolster their goalkeeping department, with both he and Kelle Roos expected to provide competition for Lee Grant.

Mitchell made his reserve team debut for the Magpies at the tender age of 15 against Manchester City in January 2011 while still at school, and also travelled with Newcastle’s Development Squad to Italy for the Torneo di Viareggio tournament a month later.

During that season, Mitchell had shared goalkeeping duties for Newcastle’s Under-16 side, before featuring for the Under-18s’ set-up in April – three months after making his debut for the Under-21s - when he kept a clean sheet in a 3-0 win over Barnsley.

The former High Tunstall College of Science pupil captained his Hartlepool school in rugby before deciding to concentrate solely on football, and became a first-year scholar at the Newcastle Academy in the summer of 2011.

The Hartlepool-born shot-stopper enjoyed a successful loan spell at Workington in 2012/13, and re-joined the Skrill North side again on a one-month youth loan earlier in the 2013/14 campaign, which allowed him to continue playing for the Magpies’ Under-21s side.